EAST LANSING— Following near-top finishes at last week’s Roy Griak Invitational on Sept. 24, Michigan State seniors Morgan Beadlescomb and Jenna Magness were named as the Big Ten Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Athletes of the Week on Wednesday.

The All-Americans both finished in the top three at the event which was hosted by the University of Minnesota. Many of the top runners from last year’s NCAA Championship returned as well, making for some tough competition.

Beadlescomb placed third in the Men’s Gold 8K, finishing with a time of 24:18.5. He was only beaten out by defending NCAA champion Conner Mantz of BYU and last year’s third-place finisher Wesley Kiptoo of Iowa State. Mantz and Kiptoo both finished within one second of each other.

In the Women’s Gold 6K, Magness finished second with a time of 20:59.6 in a close race that saw the top seven runners finish within seven seconds of each other. Only 1.7 seconds separated her and first-place finisher Callie Logue from Iowa State.

Magness has seen her share of success in her time at MSU, most recently leading the women’s team to their second-consecutive Big Ten title last season. She also finished 16th at the NCAA Championships and helped the Spartans earn fourth overall, their highest finish since 2014. 

Beadlescomb is coming off a strong showing at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials this summer in the 5,000-meter final in which he finished in sixth place. He also qualified for the NCAA Championships twice since he’s been a Spartan, finishing 23rd in 2019 and 33rd in 2021. 

Michigan State will continue their season on Oct. 15 when they head to the Nuttycombe Invitational in Madison, Wisconsin. Beadlescomb set his 8K career-best at the Nuttycombe in 2019 with a time of 23:47.3, so it’s possible this won’t be his last player of the week award.